Do you remember the first time you made an overdriven sound with your guitar?

[Jahn]

I played acoustic for a long time before getting into electric, so just imagine playing guitar for years without making even one power chord distort. Oh my.

Then I got a 1976 Gibson LP Custom, and a silverface Fender Bassman 100 with a monster 4X12 cab, the one with the slanted baffles. I played clean for a YEAR because I couldn't crank that Bassman past 1.5 on the dial without making my mother cry.

I stopped by a pawn shop one day, and of all things, decided to get a Pignose, just because I wanted to practice with my Paul in places I couldn't lug my rig to - like anywhere that wasn't the basement.

I cranked the Pignose and...what was that? WOW OVERDRIVEN AMP TONE! Yeah, solid state angry buzzing bees from a coaster-sized speaker, but still...hold on what am I missing with the Big Rig?

So I went back to that pawn shop, picked up an Ibanez TS-10 Tube Screamer for $25, plugged that into the Bassman and OH MAN.

End of story, I was sticking with Electric Guitar for life.

How about you all? Do you remember your first power chord?

[Scott Auld]

Sitting around in the music store, 15 years old, waiting for my dad to pick me up after my lessons. Plugged into a MV Marshall ... CRUUUUNCH!!!

I told the store owner behind the counter, "Hey, it's impossible to sound BAD with this thing!"

I don't think he believed me on that one. He just smiled.

[eronson]

i plugged an epiphone sg into a karaoke machine and turned it to 10. it was dirty.

[lpfella]

Was given a sears Sliver tone guitar with the amp in the case. That thing did not distort. Played that for a long while and never understood how all the bands made their guitar sound so great.

then I got a Fender Squire 15 amp and realized I could turn the volume all the way up and the gain as a master volume. The rest is history.

[Ed DeGenaro]

My first distorted sound was when as a kid (I guess I was in my early teens); my old man soldered me a cable to go from my crap Les paul copy (which had the fingerboard come unglues after I had it 3 weeks) into his old tube radio..anyway for some reason I decided to stick a knife into the speakers...sure was distorting.
Then I got a job during my vacation and got a Super Bass with a 4x12... :0

[Nergalled]

Geez, this is hard to remember. My buddys awful Memphis EVH striped guitar into an early 80's Carvin combo cranked in an apartment complex till the cops showed up. Iron Man for 2 hours straight with my buddy playing drums. Man were we bad, but I was in heaven. Never looked back.

[DF1]

It was a 1964 Fender Jaguar into an MXR Distortion + into an Ampeg 2 x 12 Combo that weighed about 80 lbs.

[Jay Mitchell]

Back in 1967, the bass player in the garage band I played in bought a Boss Tone fuzz box, and the other guitar player used it (with his Gretsch Country Gentleman and Vox Berkeley!) when we played "Heart Full of Soul." I wanted one, but I was broke.

My brother's portable tape recorder had a 1/4" mic input, and I plugged my guitar into it one day. Wow! It made the coolest, fuzziest sound I had ever heard from its internal speaker. With my bro's permission, I added a 1/4" switching output jack that I connected to the speaker output. This enabled me to use the tape recorder into my amp, but it still worked as a recorder as well. My mom couldn't stand that sound, to the point that she would stop us when we were rehearsing and tell me to turn off that damn stupid gadget. :)

[Jman60]

When I first started playing I had a small, cheap practice amp that would overdrive a little and didn't sound that good, bought a MXR Microamp which helped for O.D., but, still didn't sound that good.

Then I bought myself my first good amp, a 65 Fender Dual Showman. A short time after buying that amp I picked up a MXR Disrortion+ pedal. Still have the amp and the pedals.

[cvansickle]

I was taking lessons with my Sears electric, which came with a crappy amp, in 1979. I tried out a Stage 210 combo that had a "clipping" knob on it....

TARNATION!!!!!

No more clean playing for me after that!

[Bobby D]

yes.....1974......my parents had gone against my wishes and had bought me a used martin d-18, instead of an electric guitar.

was walking to my friend's house, and saw a yard sale. there was a tiesco del ray guitar, amp, sekova fuzz, and wah pedal.

i promptly (and stupidly) traded my nice acoustic for the whole rig. guy who owned the stuff seemed to be real happy.

didn't own another acoustic for nearly 20 years after that......and my parents were so mad they never even bought me ONE more guitar string :jo

but the sound of that FUZZ is what DID IT to me.....it was THE FUZZ....

[diego]

Mesa Boogie Mark I. A revelation.

[unoguitar]

~1974, Can't remember the guitar make, it was a semi-hollow plastic feeling thing, probably ~$100 new, the amp was a Rickenbacker TR-25 SS cheapie with a distortion knob. Plugged in, secure in the notion that the name-brand amp would get me those sounds I heard from Page, Iommi and Duane,

and phfttfttphffttthbb.... farty electronic fizzle.....

Thank goodness I stuck it out despite my rude awakening.

[Festus]

Yea, I was about 14 years old, and I was playing a Teisco guitar through my brother's Sears Silvertone stereo system. I was playing through his ear phones, and it was overdrive heaven. Then the ear phones blew up. Then my brother blew up. Ah, to be young again.

[ImmortalSix]

I remember it well --- I cranked the pre gain on my dad's old Peavey bass amp, with a Strat --- it sounded terrible I'm sure, but that day, I was playin "Gimme Three Steps" like never before!

[Rotten]

My first amp was a Barcus Berry solid state with an 8" speaker. It distorted; uugly.

[rcl]

I was 13, had a sears guitar and amp. A drummer I knew down the street brought over his mono tape deck(common in the 70s) and ran the guitar into one side, out the other and into the amp. Then he hit the record/play button. Ugly, but distorted all the same. I upgraded to a big muff not long after.

[shredtrash]

I had my Squier Strat for 3 months before I got an amp (1986). My first amp was a Fender Sidekick Reverb 30 w/a master volume. I didn't know what that was and I couldn't get the amp to overdrive so I called the store and they talked me through it over the phone. I played "Problem Child" by AC/DC all day!

[GuitarsFromMars]

I had an overdriven tone with my 1st crystal pickup for acoustic from Radio Shack. It was a Martin D-28 knock off, made in Japan. In 1971.

[PAF]

yeah - by overdriving the tape deck in my old Realistic stereo!

[bsuite]

Mid 60's,
guitar through my folks monkey wards console stereo record player.
That sounded awesome at the time.
Felt like the speakers were going fall right out of that thing!

[Bryan T]

How about you all?

Yes! I started out on acoustic and used to really like picking right next to the bridge. To me, it sounded more electric. When I finally got a guitar/amp I played clean for a long time. I'd still pick next to the bridge for that 'electric' sound. One day, I flipped the switch on the amp labeled "tube sat" and realized I didn't need to pick next to the bridge any longer. Oh, to be 10 again.

[2leod]

Sure do!

It was this LP -

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a62/2leod/SilverPaul1.jpg


into this JC120 -


http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a62/2leod/JC120.jpg

I started out playing acoustic at the coffee house scene for a number of years, the Paul and Jazz Chorus were supposed to enhance that vibe - but once I started cranking the distortion knob on that puppy it was all downhill from there...

[MemphisCR]

Two instances stick out in my mind.

1) My brother had bought a cheap guitar and a little "Lindell" amp from a local department store in the late 60's. He gave up learning guitar soon after that and I started goofing around with it eventually taking lessons. A few years later I bought a copy "Aria" Les Paul. At some later point I decided to crank the volume and that was it. The amp was solid state, not that loud, and sounded surprisingly decent cranked. I remember playing along with "Machine Head" using the little beast. I regret selling it (for next to nothing) and I'm convinced that if I still had it, fronted with a Timmy, it could be a cool little practice amp.

2) In 1976 a local shop had an unheard of, at the time, 1/3 off Marshall sale. I paid eight $80 monthly installments for a non-master 50 watt and 4/12 straight cabinet. It was pure torture waiting eight months to get that thing out of layaway. The day I got it home I told my parents just to bear with me for a minute while I turn it up (all the way). That was the most glorious feeling, ripping through a few power chords. About 23 seconds later my father, not at all amused, told me to turn it down, way down. That was the first and last time that it ever got cranked at home (at least while they were there). I've still got the receipt, now tucked away in my "History of Marshall" book.

[THebert]

For me it was sometime around 1976 and I had a Les Paul copy and a Peavey backstage 30. I wanted distortion but did not know much about it- found out about boxes- and got a Big Muff. Boom- distortion big time! Wish I still had it.

[jefesq]

Hagstrom II Bass into a Rheem Califone into my 2X10 Kalamazoo 50. Think for Yourself fuzzbass rocked

[Smakutus]

A friend of mine had a Heathkit amp that I don't think was a head but an amp with the top cut off it and we would wire this cheap speaker I had to it. The speaker wasn't even in a cab it just sat on the frame and magnet. So i take the speaker home and hook it up to my little Silvertone tube amp and use it like this for while then the speaker started ripping and the more it ripped the cooler I thought it sounded but soon the speaker stopped working and I got rid of it. I than bought a Japanese fuzz box that had a tone switch on the side. It kinda sounded like a Super Fuzz pedal but also the sound Neal Schon gets in the intro to the song "When You're Alone It Ain't Easy" by Journey.

Jeff

[vrdyer]

It was with a Nu Fuzz and a Fender Deluxe.

[waylay00]

I remember plugging into my dad's Rockman X100 with the little included headphones...What a sweet sound, even from those little cans!

[VaughnC]

I think it was early 1966 shortly after "Satisfaction" hit the charts....I was the first one in my area to get a Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal. By todays standards it sounded horrible (like a swarm of angry bees ;)), but we thought it was the coolest thing since reverb.

[tedzepplin]

I didn't have an amp so I plugged into the family stereo and when it was cranked up it had an incredible fuzz for about 30 seconds, then the speakers blew out.

[shigihara]

My first distorted sound was when as a kid (I guess I was in my early teens) my old man soldered me a cable to go from my crap Les paul copy (which had the fingerboard come unglues after I had it 3 weeks) into his old tube radio..anyway for some reason I decided to stick a knife into the speakers...sure was distorting.
Then I got a job during my vacation and got a Super Bass with a 4x12... :0


ha... in my early teens around the times of 'sunshine of your love' and 'hey joe' a friend tinkered with my old german tube radio monster (must have been a grundig or telefunken...) and built a fuzzbox to go with a hofner sg copy... it sure made a lot of noise and got me hooked !

[HEAVENandHELL]

The 1st time I picked up a guitar on my 15th birthday. To me, overdriven was what an electric guitar sounded like.

[gkinsingapore]

About 14 years old, early squier strat into a yellow overdrive pedal direct into the school hall PA system. 2 hours later we had a band, first song was 'We're not gonna take it' 2nd song was Like a Hurricane....'bout 26 years ago now!

[Jim85IROC]

My story isn't nearly as entertaining as the others, but at least it's mine. :)

A couple years ago at the age of 30 I decided that it was time to learn to play guitar. I picked up an Ibanez RG3QM1, primarily because I loved the quilted maple top. I bought a 10 watt solid state marshall amp from a coworker for about $20. I dimed the gain knob and did my best possible rendition of Smoke On The Water, because that's all I could play (and not well). Shortly after I discoverd the E5 chord and then found out how cool it sounded with gain.

That little marshall sounded absolutely horrible with any kind of gain, although I did later use it clean with a vox amplug to add some dirt to the sound, and that little rig was a nice little practice setup for my living room. I recently gave that amp to a kid who had his guitar lesson right after me. He had some even cheaper piece of crap amp that didn't have a gain knob, and since he's a slipknot fan, I can't imagine he enjoyed it much. Hopefully that little Marshall will keep him entertained until he can convince his parents to buy him something a bit more appropriate.

[62Tele]

I was 12 years old and we had a neighbor who made us nuts and I had a Twin Reverb. Bad combo. I rolled the amp into the backyard, dimed it, and played the Star Spangled Banner - badly, but it got the point across.

[Jahn]

I have never ever dimed a Twin Reverb, even when I owned one. I bet the resulting roar was epic!

[teleman1]

1968 I had a P-90 Gibson 125tc and a small tube Harmony amp. I wanted to turn it up, but it distorted. I thought distortion was a problem , not an asset. I sold it and got a Vox Cambridge, SS, THen I got an Acosutic 154,8-10" speakers, Freakin loud and wouldn't distort. I choose this piece of dead weight over a 60's Marshal half stack 50 watt. By the time I was 17 I was ready to give up electric and did anyway. But right about then my friends bassman & I became one. I played great Clapton leads through it and began to understand what tubes were about. I was uninformed till then.

[Bobby D]

in junior high, i had "borrowed" a tube type record player that had a detachable 12" speaker cab, and an "aux" input.....i remember that thing sounding GLORIOUS when i cranked it up.....and even played a jordan bosstone into it.....

[David Simpson]

Well...that would have been sometime back in the mid 70's.....so....no...:facepalm

[franksguitar]

I remember plugging my guitar into a tape recorder input and put it on record , pegged the volume and plugged the output into an amp input and incredible sustained fuzz came out

[ultrevex]

I remember plugging my guitar into a tape recorder input and put it on record , pegged the volume and plugged the output into an amp input and incredible sustained fuzz came out

Funny, I did the same thing with a Realistic cassette deck and a monolithic Acoustic SS amp that someone had left over at the drummer's house around 1979. Then I got a new Rat and a used Vibrolux Reverb, it was all over after that!

[Cymbaline]

In the 7th grade back in 1977 or so. My friends cheapo Kay electric into an old Fender Champ (Which I have now.) Crank it up to 12 and play "Smoke On The Water". Yeah!!

[Lution]

Christmas 1983

My first guitar and amp straight from the JC Penny catalog - Harmony Les Paul copy and a Stradolin 535 amp. And 12 days before, which was my birthday, I got a EH Deluxe Big Muff Pi.... so I knew what was coming for Christmas. Those 12 days were the longest of my life. I must have sat and stared at that Big Muff pedal for hours.

Plugged it all in on Christmas Day and WHAM!!!!

GLORY!!!!!

My Parents didn't see me for a year.

[mprvise]

Yeah, I remember it and it sucked. My POS first amp in the early 1980's. Not long after that I played a bandmate's Peavey Renown - better. About a year later a friend's older cousin brought over a full Marshall stack to my mom's garage - OH YEAH! They practically had to drag me away so others could try it as well - fun times.

[franksguitar]

I also knew a kid in Jr High in the 60's who built electronics build a fuzz for me from a schematic and sounded like a fuzztone. I never knew what happened to it.

[JDW3]

I didn't have an amp so I plugged into the family stereo and when it was cranked up it had an incredible fuzz for about 30 seconds, then the speakers blew out.


Same here. I was 13, plugged into the mic input of a Pioneer stereo and did my best Ted Nugent impression I could, 60watts of solid state, until the speakers blew.

After sweating for hours, just before mom came home, I found a reset button on the back of the spks. Saved! Later I bought an amp.

On a better note, my first amp was a Traynor YGM-3 Guitarmate. I never cranked until I was pissed one day. Volume went to 10, and I was born again. From that day on, vol 10, treble 10, bass 0 or 1. Love those el-84s. I used to make recordings of the various sounds I was getting from driving the amp. Solid maple Univox strat with DiMarzios.

[jgyn]

Yes.
It made me question my atheism.

[zeppelinpage4]

I had been playing for a few weeks clean on my Fender Frontman 15 and being new to the guitar. The whole time i kept wondering, how do those guitars get so "mean" sounding? I didn't even know the words overdrive and distortion then. I just figured I wasn't good enough to sound like that.

Haha should have seen my face when I learned to press that "drive" switch on the amp. It was buzzy SS distortion but it was my first true electric guitar sound.

[FeloniousBishop]

I do, it was around 1978. My brother had a cheap Les Paul copy and I plugged it into my little portable casette player, pressed record and play at the same time, then ran the output of that deck into the phono input of my stereo reciever. Got serious transistor fuzz out of the speakers.